swimmermom3 Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Do I want this? Okay. Swimmer Dude and I have had a little pet project where we follow the money trail in online education since there is a major push to have brick and mortar schools do more on-line. For example, we followed the trail that Keystone National High School was purchased by K12 Learning which was founded by a former Secretary of Education. Connections Academy which is the other free virtual school in our state in owned by Apollo Global Management. It has been an interesting and thought-provoking rabbit trail. Can anyone explain why this might be a good thing? We are trying to look at it from all sides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Do you mean, do you want Connections Academy to be owned by Apollo? Or that you want Apollo to review American Idol? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted June 19, 2012 Author Share Posted June 19, 2012 Sorry Jean. Two kids texting about what time to pick them up from the transit center while I am posting. Obviously, I don't multi-task well. Swimmer Dude and I have been wondering who all owns what in the online education world, because if that is the trend being pushed for in standard American education, then doesn't follow that there should be some lovely profits to be had? We are still trying to put numbers together, but there are fewer textbook providers and their ownership is woven into the online schools which seem to be woven into some major holding companies. Maybe we are thinking in too broad of terms and we aren't usually a household given to conspiracy theories. Lobbyists have ties in all areas - strong ties. I think I am asking if having the same company that holds American Idol rights also holding American education is a good thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 (edited) Well, both are held by a capital equity firm but are separate companies. I think the question is more - should a school be owned by a capital equity firm? The point of a capital equity firm is that it invests private money with the hope of a profit (if I remember my banking days). Unless the board members and investors of both companies were overlapping in some way, there would be no tie-in between CKx and Connections Academy other than the parent company that has invested in them both. You would want to find out who the officers and investors in Connections Academy were, and possibly who those were in Apollo (because they might have some influence on Connections - though that might not be the case depending on how the company is structured). As far as conspiracy is concerned, the only possible conspiracy that I would see is that Connections might not want to do things that are considered too risky by the parent company so their decisions might be governed by the bottom line. But the parent company might have given them total autonomy in how they make those decisions. Edited June 19, 2012 by Jean in Newcastle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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